Gaming device manufactures have long provided gaming machines employing a plurality of reels, wherein the reels each have a plurality of symbols. In these games, the player spins the reels which act independently to produce a random generation of a combination of symbols. If the generated combination, or a portion of the combination, matches one of a number of predetermined award producing or winning combinations, the player receives an award.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, and to increase the popularity of the gaming machines, gaming device manufacturers constantly strive to provide players with new types of gaming machines that attract the player and keep the player entertained. One proven way manufacturers use to make their machines more popular is to increase the number and variety of winning combinations and provide more opportunities for the player to win. Providing more variety and opportunities holds the player's interest for a longer time and also enables the manufacturer to have a larger range of payouts for winning combinations. The larger range increases the size of the largest possible payout of the gaming device, and larger payouts tend to attract players.
To increase variety and opportunity, manufacturers have increased the number of possible symbol positions or paystops. Increasing paystops increases the number of different symbols a game can have and increases the number of times a particular symbol can appear. Increasing the number of times that a symbol can appear increases its likelihood of appearance, which affects the payout of a winning combination containing that symbol. Winning combinations that have a rare or low likelihood of appearance tend to have higher payouts.
One way manufactures have increased the number of paystops has been to increase the size of the reel to accommodate more stops. Original gaming machines had approximately ten stops per reel, modern mechanical reels have approximately thirty to thirty five stops per reel and modern video machines have no physical limit to the number of stops per reel. Another way manufacturers have increased the number of paystops has been to add reels. Original gaming machines had three reels, while modern mechanical machines have employed up to five reels. Video reel machines have not increased the number of reels past five mainly because five reels create enough diversity to keep the game interesting without becoming too complex for the player to enjoy.
It should be appreciated that gaming machines have become rather complex in comparison to the original three reel, ten stop machine created before 1900. It is well known in the art for the manufacturer to provide pay information on a paytable in accordance with regulation. That is, manufacturers provide a list or paytable containing all the different winning combinations of symbols and the awards associated therewith. Such paytables historically and sometimes still appear on the front face of the gaming machine, such as on the glass in a top cabinet of the machine. However, with more complex video games having multiple paying combinations and different machine configurations, it is not possible to display all necessary information on glass. Therefore, paytables on video machines are also available through player assistance or help screens as is well known in the art. The known help screens, however, do not provide an intuitive or convenient way to display the paytables.
With multiple paylines on simulated displays, which can have any number of simulated reels and an infinite number of different symbols and symbol combinations, the paytables will accordingly have many symbols and symbol combinations to keep track of. The rapid development of complex games has created a need for an easy method for displaying information on a particular symbol, so that a player can learn its function within the game. Games can structure the symbol combinations to pay from left to right, right to left, or in any position on a line, etc. The symbols can also have special functions such as substituting for another symbol, multiplying wins, or triggering a bonus event. Given the spatial limitations of the simulated displays in which the game preferably displays the paytable, paytables often comprise multiple display screens.
Players, in general, wish to play the game and not read paytables. However, players want to know why they won and how much certain combinations pay. Players most likely do not desire to digest an entire paytable; rather, they want to find a particular symbol or combination or find all the winning combinations associated with a particular symbol. It is therefore desirable to provide the information that the player wants rather than requiring a player to scroll through pages of information. No known gaming device provides a quick and easy method for enabling the player to sort through unwanted paytable symbols and combinations to find a desired symbol or combination.